A Smoke, a Fire, a Sea, a Madness
by raz3r
Summary: When extremely cheerful yet innocent Sakura Kinomoto enrolls as a graduate under the supervision of Syaoran Li: a notorious business mongrel by day and well-respected professor by night, his attraction and obsession with her ignites a chain of startling repercussions
1. Part One - The Professor (i)

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Card Captor Sakura or any of its characters.

* * *

 **A Smoke, a Fire, a Sea, a Madness**

Raz3r

 _Part One – The Professor (i)_

* * *

" _Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;_

 _Being purged, a fire sparkling in a lovers' eyes;_

 _Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears;_

 _What is it else? A madness most discreet,_

 _A choking gall, and a preserving sweet."_

(Romeo in William Shakespeare's _Romeo and Juliet, 1597_ )

* * *

"…Miss Kinomoto?"

His deep, sultry voice carried across the auditorium to a striking emerald-eyed young woman seated at the back, practically hidden due to her small frame. Perhaps spellbound or merely lost in translation, her head remained down as she scribbled furiously in her notebook.

A sea of bemused eyes swung to her, to her sun-kissed face and long lashes, to her delicate long fingers clutching a pen, lost in thought, completely oblivious to the attention she'd attracted. Then the sea of eyes swung back to the professor, who stood eerily still, his face had hardened into an irritated scowl.

" _Ahem_." A modest cough to her right caught the young woman's attention. Her eyes widened in surprise at the broad-shouldered man sitting next to her. He smiled shyly but then quickly flicked his eyes to the front of the room, his attention back to the professor.

She followed his gaze slowly, looking up into a pair of piercing amber eyes. Shocked, her pen slipped from her fingers, and the color drained from her face as she sat quivering in her seat like a frightened kitten.

"Well, Miss Kinomoto?" His eyes zeroed in on her; his amber orbs filled with arctic fury that sent uncontrollable shivers throughout her entire body. "I expect an answer to my question, that is, if you care to join us."

The other students shifted uneasily in their seats and stole furtive glances at one another. The professor was known for his contemptuous demeanor, but in that moment he sounded bitterly severe.

 _What had crawled up his ass?_

Yet they said nothing. It was commonly known that any student of the professor's, who dared to confront him, let alone disrespect him, would undoubtedly and inescapably jeopardize both their academic future and potential career endeavors.

As the young woman's lips parted her throat suddenly constricted, making it almost painful to swallow. She quickly closed her mouth, embarrassed at her inability to speak. She'd never felt more vulnerable than under the unblinking arbitration of the professor's glare. The more she drowned in unwavering amber, the more she could see her own frightened refection staring back at her.

"Is Japanese not your first language, Miss Kinomoto?" he drawled out his words slowly; he was mocking her.

A platinum blonde-haired woman seated in the front at his right hand tried to stifle a laugh, repressing it into an unconvincing cough. The sea of eyes shifted back to the frightened kitten, whose skin now exploded into vibrant crimson. She finally managed to escape the professor's intense scrutiny by lowering her head in humiliation.

"Since Miss Kinomoto seems to be caught up in her own parallel universe where Japanese is not spoken, perhaps someone else would be kind enough to answer my question?"

The beauty to his right was merely too eager at the opportunity. She beamed as she began to answer his question in great detail, making a show of herself, gesturing with her hands as she perfectly quoted from text. When she had finished, she glanced over her shoulder and smiled tartly to the back of the room, her pearly whites on display, before she ensued to ogle back at the professor and sigh.

"Right." The professor frowned faintly at no one in particular before adverting his attention back to the blackboard. As everyone sat in deadly silence for the remainder of the professor's lecture, the young woman seated at the back of the auditorium blinked back tears as she continued to scribble, her head remained bowed, in an attempt to hide any tears that may have escaped.

A few minutes had passed until a small folded paper appeared on top of her closed textbook. At first she hadn't noticed it until the familiar sound of a soft ' _ahem_ ' drew her attention once more to the good-looking man sitting beside her. He smiled more confidently this time, almost eagerly, glancing down at the paper placed in front of her, urging her to uncover the secret that lay within.

She looked at it curiously and blinked. As the professor droned on with his disquisition, she timed him carefully; the moment he turned his back to complete the rest of the diagram he'd been referring to the entirety of class, she carefully brought the paper to her lap where she quietly unfolded it.

 _Li's a dick._

As soon as she read those words, she flushed instantly. Though a small part of her felt comforted that someone had taken notice. A rosy blush appeared on her cheeks, and she let a small smile escape. Raising her large emerald-eyes to the man next to her, she looked at him shyly. At her attention, a wide, friendly grin spread across his face.

"Is there something funny, Miss Kinomoto? "

Her face fell immediately and her eyes dilated in terror. Her new friend's smile disappeared as he turned his attention back to the professor almost robotically.

Feeling like she'd learnt her lesson the first time, she avoided looking up into the professor's cold, piercing eyes. Instead, she lowered her head mortified to have been caught a second time, and bit her lip nervously as she shook her head side-to-side, gesticulating ' _no'_.

"It was my fault, Li-Sensei," the man next to her spoke suddenly, attempting to mediate on her behalf, "I was just asking which page the diagram was on."

"Hardly an appropriate question to interrupt my class with, Mr. Tachibana. But since you asked, turn to page 23," he paused before adding, "I trust you can find it without Miss Kinomoto's help seeing as her text is closed."

The professor eyed the two students suspiciously; something unnerving flickered in his eyes as he studied them carefully. They remained uncannily still, waiting nervously in anticipation for him to continue. But just before he was going to pick up from where he'd left off, he unexpectedly turned his attention to the trembling kitten in the back.

"And, Miss Kinomoto?"

The young woman jumped in her seat, lifting her gaze ever so slightly.

"See me in my office after class."

An almost inaudible sound escaped her mouth; she found its familiarity oddly surprising.

"Hoe…"

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 _Konnichiwa!_

 **Author Note:** My first ever story, and I am so very excited to share with my future readers! I hope you're looking forward to the scandals of a professor/student relationship, because I know I certainly am – though I'll leave it at that; can't go sharing all my secrets.

I plan on keeping everyone in character so there won't be too much OOC. Though there won't be any magic in this fanfic – I'm sorry!

Please be sure to leave some love! Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Until next time!

 _Additional Note_ – Each chapter will be told in approximately 1000 words. I'd like to think of it as a challenge to myself. I also wanted to put purpose to every scene, as you'll come to find how inter-connected everything really is –wink–


	2. Part One - The Professor (ii)

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Card Captor Sakura or any of its characters.

* * *

 **A Smoke, a Fire, a Sea, a Madness**

Raz3r

 _Part One – The Professor (ii)_

* * *

The professor dismissed his seminar thirty minutes early, leaving the auditorium in haste with his phone glued to his ear, talking heatedly while grappling with his laptop and very expensive looking cross-body briefcase. As soon as his figure disappeared beyond the exit doors, a buzz of a million conversations erupted. No one seemed to be particularly concerned with the sudden disruption, since it seemed to have become common occurrence.

Sakura Kinomoto almost sighed in relief at an early dismissal, but not before reminding herself she'd earned her very first unintentional meeting with the professor, one that would probably involve behavioral reprimand followed by some sort of disciplinary action devised to embarrass her further.

Groaning inwardly, she grabbed her beaten up backpack that had survived through her first four years of undergrad, and stuffed her used text beside her older brother's hand-me-down laptop. In her rush, the folded piece of paper she'd been cradling in her lap fell to the floor. She reached for it swiftly, before anyone dared to come across its secret message, but halted when she saw a large paw beat her to it.

"Kinomoto-san, right?" Her gaze traveled from the paper, upward, into a calm pool of ocean blue eyes; she recognized him as the same young man who'd written her the note, and the same young man who had tried to intercede with the professor on her behalf.

"I'm Ryu Tachibana." The friendly fellow extended his muscular arm over the table and placed the piece of paper in front of her as he'd done before. Sakura flushed in relief and together they shared in a secret smile before she handled the paper with care, tucking it safely into her notebook.

When she looked up to thank him, she found herself staring at his out stretched hand. Boldly, she placed her small hand in his, shaking it gently as he marveled at how delicate her hand looked in his large palm. He could have easily crushed her fingers in his iron grip.

"It's nice to meet you, Tachibana-san," she spoke cheerily, "I'm Sakura Kinomoto, but all my friends call me Sakura," she gave him a radiant smile and a hue of red spread across his cheeks.

"Sa-ku-ra-san," Ryu spoke her name slowly, hesitantly, only having met her for the first time, but she beamed back at him in encouragement. "Sakura-san," he said again, more confidently, "I'm sorry Li-Sensei was such a jerk to you. I don't know what's eating him but he's really been on edge recently," he stated, trying to offer her the comfort of knowing it wasn't her fault the professor was in such a sour mood.

"It's okay," she whispered, quickly turning her attention to her backpack, fussing with the zipper, trying to hide her embarrassment at the mention of the professor.

Not even a second seemed to skip before Ryu continued. "You're new here, right?" he persisted, angling his head slightly as if trying to catch her eyes again.

"Hai," she spoke quietly "I transferred from Kagawa University."

"And you're here for your Master's?" he asked.

She confirmed his answer with a brisk nod. "I'm specializing in business marketing."

"Ah," Ryu's eyes widened in realization "So you're specifically here for The Professor himself," he replied as he gave Syaoran Li his preferred title with sarcastic emphasis.

"Ano-" she tried to rephrase his choice of words, which seemed to make her neck veins begin to pulsate in response to her quickened heart rate. She wasn't there _for_ the professor, she was selected to participate and work _with_ the professor.

"I'm working with him as well," Ryu affirmed proudly, dismissing Sakura's hesitant response, attributing it to modesty. "I'm specializing in business accounting," he confirmed before explaining how every year the professor chooses the top three most promising students from each business specialization to participate in his next big business endeavor.

"-And if I'm not mistaken, almost 99% of the time, after graduation, you're pretty much offered a job within _his_ company!" he mentioned excitedly.

"Have you… have you already met with him?" She gave a worried look. What if she was already behind without even knowing? What if she hadn't received the memo because she'd only learnt her login and password for her student account not even two days prior.

"No, no, we won't see him until next week." A wave of relief washed over her. "We're supposed to base our thesis around his new business project, and he wants to discuss that with all three of us," he paused before adding "which means we'll be dealing with Maki Matsumoto," he rolled his eyes at the mention of her name.

"Matsumoto-san?" Sakura gave him a questioning look.

"She's the other member of our little trio - she specializes in business management. You've already had the _pleasure_ of meeting her," he spoke cynically of the tart in the front row. "Though, I'm pretty sure her goal is to be the next future Mrs. Li. I mean she puts on this act to try to impress him all the time. She shows up super early to class, makes him homemade treats, and is casually known to drop by his office," he said with a repulsed looked on his face.

Sakura only nodded, but didn't say anything.

"I'm not sure if Matsumoto-san is aware of the strict non-fraternization policy set up by the International University of Tokyo, but I've been inclined to leave her a paper copy in her mailbox just to remind her," Ryu grinned wickedly, which rewarded him with the pleasant sound of Sakura's giggles. He promised himself that he'd have to make Sakura Kinomoto laugh more often.

"Come on," he rose to his feet abruptly and gestured to her, "You should get going. Li-Sensei hates tardiness."

She nodded it agreement, almost forgetting about her undesired meeting. She hauled her backpack on top of the table until her eyes widened suddenly, realization spreading across her face – she hadn't a clue where the Syaoran Li's office was.

"Um…" she spoke hesitantly, looking around the now empty auditorium "I've never been to his office before so I'm not sure how to get there-"

"Come on. I'll show you." He spoke all to eagerly, a delighted smile spread across his face. He reached for her backpack nonchalantly and swung it effortlessly over his shoulder. Sakura cried out in protest, having been able to carry her books herself but he dismissed her coolly with a swift wave of his hand saying how it was no trouble.

She walked closely beside her new friend as he led her outside the auditorium and out into the courtyard. While they walked, he spoke enthusiastically, more about himself, his family and his hometown. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was trying to help ease her mind over her meeting with the professor.

Sakura couldn't help but appreciate how chivalrously kind Ryu was being to her. She thought of the world they lived in now, how everyone looked out for themselves, indifferent to the well being of those around them. Then she briefly thought how small acts of kindness meant so much to her and how touched she felt by the people who chose to pay it forward.

She couldn't help but smile up at her new friend, grateful for how his warm greeting and lively conversation helped to drastically lift her spirit. Unconsciously, she began to straighten her drawn-in stance, growing a little taller, feeling more assured as the outer sign of confidence helped her feel it on the inside too.

Up until the moment her breath caught and smile dropped when they finally stopped in front of Syaoran Li's office.

* * *

 **To Be Continued…**

 _Konnichiwa!_

 **Author's Note:** Slow start, I know! I'll be introducing some familiar and some new key characters shortly. Bear with me! Though next chapter should be very… interesting… he-he.

But **Oh my gosh!** Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For all the lovely words of encouragement! I really didn't know what kind of response I was going to get, but so far it seems to be pretty positive and I feel overjoyed!

Seriously, I really hope I don't disappoint you!

Please be sure to leave more love! (As you can see I live off of it!)

Until next time!


	3. Part One - The professor (iii)

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Card Captor Sakura or any of its characters.

* * *

 **A Smoke, a Fire, a Sea, a Madness**

Raz3r

 _Part One – The Professor (iii)_

* * *

Sakura stood in front of the professor's office, her body remained frozen and her muscles became so taut she'd almost resembled that of an unwavering statue. She seemed to have forgotten exactly how long she'd been standing there for as her mind continued in dizzying spins of whether or not she should just flee now and deal with the consequences later. How much more trouble could she possibly get into?

Ryu had hurriedly left not long after he'd showed her to Li's office. He'd excused himself, profusely apologizing for not being able to wait for her for he had his last class to catch. But he didn't leave until he'd wished her 'good luck' and said that'd he'd see her next week before he'd completely disappeared.

Needless to say, she'd lost her source of encouragement. Now, the thought of backing out and running back to her new apartment, packing her things and catching the next train ride home seemed much more appealing.

 _Get a hold of yourself!_

She chastised herself, shaking her head vigorously trying to rid her head of such ridiculous thoughts.

But she couldn't help the unnerving feeling that was settling in the pit of her stomach. She could feel her pores break out into a nervous sweat as she recalled how the professor had spoken to her so callously, so discourteously. She began to tremble; she was sure he'd have more crass words to share with her.

 _You deserve to be here!_

A tiny voice of reassurance reached out from the back of her mind, yet she struggled to believe her own words.

She must have looked like a fool to passersby as she animatedly argued with herself for being such a scaredy-cat. She was twenty-four years old for heaven's sake, and it was time to act like an adult!

Straightening her shoulders, she took a deep breath, held it, and placed her knuckles in front of the wood paneling.

 _It's now or never…_

"You've got to be kidding me!" an angry voice, an all too familiar voice, shouted aloud. "You know my schedule. You know I'm in lecture every Wednesday night, of course I'm not going to answer my phone, you asshole!"

Sakura saw the door was slightly ajar. How hadn't she noticed this before? Panic washed over her. She wanted to retreat immediately. Maybe fleeing wasn't such a terrible idea? If he were angry and yelling at someone right now, she knew she wasn't ready to deal with the aftermaths of his fury. She'd surely break down in tears in front of him and make an even bigger fool of herself.

 _Run, you silly girl!_

Her brain screamed at her, but her legs felt like iron casts. She reached for her chest and grabbed at her heart feeling the heavy beat under her palm. Her sympathetic nervous system was shouting flight!

"Of course I'm going to be there. What kind of fucking stupid question is that?" his voice was strained, truly annoyed with the person on the other end. "You know, you're really starting to test my fucking patience, Eriol. Just because I have a lot of shit to deal with doesn't mean I can't make time for my family! Especially when… when…"

And that's when Sakura heard it. She knew he hadn't meant for it to escape, but the agonizing sound had already assaulted her ears. The heart-wrenching sob that tore from his throat screamed sorrow. She couldn't help the compassion that spread through her heart. And she knew in that moment she could not flee.

Pressing her ear closer, she listened keenly.

"Tell them I'm coming," he said, "I'm sending notice to Yin right now to fuel the jet and charter the flight. I'll be in Hong Kong early morning…" a notification alarm sounded and Syaoran confirmed that the jet would be ready in an hour.

"Is she around?" the question sounded almost hesitant.

There was a brief pause.

"Oh, okay. Well tell her I'm coming. And tell her I'm sorry for not answering earlier…" his voice cracked slightly. "Tell her I'm so sorry…"

Silence ensued until Sakura heard a silent 'click' of the telephone being hung up. Without considering her actions, quietly and carefully she pried her head around the door unable to contain her curiosity.

Syaoran Li held his head in his long-fingered hands, leaning his elbows on his desk. She watched as his broad shoulders shook, his silent sobs rippling through his body. Her chest tightened at the anguish and sorrow that ripped out of his throat.

She felt the urge to go to him. She wanted to offer him her condolences and comfort. She felt propelled to put her arms around his neck, smooth his naturally unruly hair and tell him that she was sorry. Briefly, she imagined what it would be like to wipe the tears that threatened to spill from those intense amber orbs. What would it be like to see them look to her kindly, passionately? Would she be inclined to give him a gentle kiss to his cheek, just to assure him of her sympathy?

Suddenly she froze.

Where were these thoughts coming from? Only hours ago the professor was singling her out in class, mocking her, embarrassing her. But watching him, seeing him so vulnerable as if his heart was broken momentarily, brought her own eyes to tears.

When she finally realized where she was, she quickly retracted her head and disappeared back behind the door. She was his student, he was her professor, and she could not do any of the things that'd crossed her mind. It would be completely inappropriate. Reckless even.

Instead, she blindly pulled a scrap paper from her backpack and scribbled a few words. Hesitantly, not quite knowing what to do next, she bent to her knees and slid the note under his door. Stepping back, she contemplated whether she'd done the right thing. Then, with a nod of her head, grabbing the straps of her bag tightly, she decided it would be best to walk away.

She thought of her note and hoped the professor would understand:

 _Please forgive me._

 _-Sakura Kinomoto_

* * *

 **To Be Continued…**

 _Konnichiwa!_

 **Author's Note:** Yes, I've been terrible. Making you all wait this long. I'm kind working on another story along side this one, and it's been keeping my muse a little preoccupied. But, no more excuses!

Also to answer some questions:

 **Animechick123** – I'm going to try and update every 1-2 weeks. I'm a quality over quantity type of person, hence my reason for 1000 words Also, I'm working on my grammar – I know its not the best, it's something I've always struggled with. But practice makes perfect… well maybe not perfect, but certainly improvement!

 **Arise and Awaken** – Maybe not quite the encounter you might have been looking for, he-he! But at least now we know The Professor has an actual vulnerable side.

 **Miss. Miyazawa** – I seemed to have received a lot of positive feedback for Mr. Ryu Tachibana. He's supposed to be very likeable, his character dynamics will fit in perfectly in future upcoming chapters. You won't see the last of him!

To all my other guests and signed reviewers, I am so happy for all the positivity and love you have left – thank you so much!

Also, FYI, I just combed through chapter two quickly and fixed some grammatical errors. I had way too many run on sentences, but no serious changes or anything!

Until next time!


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